


Lost and Found

by dragonydreams



Series: Captain Canary & Rogue Canary Tumblr Prompt Fics [16]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012), DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Pre-Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-06
Updated: 2016-05-06
Packaged: 2018-06-06 16:01:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,038
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6760648
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dragonydreams/pseuds/dragonydreams
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Pre-Series. Sara's dad takes her to Central City for a police symposium and she meets a handsome stranger when she gets lost.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lost and Found

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I claim no ownership over these characters. I am merely borrowing them from DC Comics, Greg Berlanti, Marc Guggenheim, Andrew Kreisberg and Phil Klemmer.
> 
> Betas: Thank you to angelskuuipo and shanachie for looking this over for me.
> 
> Author's Note: Anonymous Prompt: so I have a captain canary thing. so like it takes place when they are younger, and sara's dad takes her with him to this police thing in central city, and sara gets lost and it starts snowing and leonard helps her, or something?? p.s. love your work<3

One of the things that sucked about being born on Christmas Day was that Sara hardly ever got just birthday presents. It was always a combined birthday and Christmas present. Birthday cakes at Christmas dinner. And she hardly ever got to have a real birthday party because the other kids always had to do their own family Christmas things. 

For her eighteenth birthday, it was both better and worse. Still no party, and her presents were mostly combined, but her dad was taking her to Central City for a couple of days, just the two of them. 

Well, the two of them and a bunch of other cops. Technically, he had to go for a work symposium thing. She wasn't sure about the details. All she knew was that he was taking her with him. She was even going to have her own (adjoining) room. 

"It'll be great," her dad had said. "My buddy, Joe's, kids are about your age. You can spend the days with them, and hang with your old man in the evening."

Sara figured that she could lose Detective West's kids and explore the city on her own. She was eighteen now, after all. It's not like she needed a chaperone.

~~*~~

Their first day in Central City, Sara couldn't shake her companions. Barry and Iris were cute, but so not her type. Yeah, it was kind of fun watching Barry fall all over himself in front of Iris - they weren't blood siblings, Joe just raised Barry - and she wondered how long it would be before Iris twigged to the fact that her "brother" was in love with her.

On the second day, Sara got lucky. They'd taken her to a park that had outdoor ice skating. She claimed she didn't know how to skate and didn't want to risk falling and hurting herself, but encouraged them to go ahead while she watched. So they did. Once she was sure they were no longer watching her, Sara took off.

She didn't exactly have anywhere in particular to go, of course. She barely knew the city, even after she'd been dragged all over it the day before. 

She ended up on a street lined with shops, their windows filled with bright Christmas displays. Even though it was growing darker, the street was still bright from all of the white Christmas lights wrapped around the trees up and down the street. 

Sara slowly walked past the closed shops, admiring the displays, shivering slightly as the winter wind picked up. 

She reached up to wipe something from her nose, then her cheek. She looked up and saw that it had begun to snow, making her feel like she was in some winter wonderland. 

A deserted winter wonderland. There were very few people out, since most of the shops were closed. Every once in a while she'd pass a busy restaurant surrounded by dead stores.

After a couple of hours of wandering around several blocks, Sara found herself back on the tree-lined shopping street. It was colder and darker now, and the snow was starting to stick. And she had no clue where her hotel was in relation to where she was. Her dad was going to start worrying soon.

Oh, and her phone was dead.

"Shit," she muttered as she checked the dead phone, again, to see if maybe it would work this time. It didn't.

"Such language," a voice drawled from nearby.

Sara spun around to find a man, older than her but younger than her dad, standing in the entryway to a jewelry store. He was kinda cute, wearing a huge navy blue parka, but it was his eyes that drew her in. They were stormy and pierced straight through her.

"What are you, my dad?" Sara snapped, then instantly regretted it at the look of horror that crossed his face.

"I should certainly hope not," he drawled. "Or I might have to punish you for getting lost in an unfamiliar city. And talking to strangers." He smirked at her.

"I-I'm not lost," Sara stuttered. 

"Right," he said, drawing the word out. "That's why you've been walking up and down this street for an hour and trying to get your dead phone to work by hitting it in the palm of your other hand."

Sara took a step back. "Have you been following me?"

"No need. You passed me half a dozen times. You caught my attention," he said. "You're lucky I'm not a predator."

"How do I know you're not?" Sara challenged. "That's exactly the kind of thing a predator would say."

"Because if I were, you'd already be locked away in some non-descript van," he said. "Not talking on the street freezing our asses off."

"How do I know you're not going to try sweet talking me into some van?"

"Is that what you want?" he asked, stalking forward, causing Sara's breath to hitch. "You looking for a little danger?" He stopped when he was only a few inches from her. "Sorry, sweetheart, but I don't go for kids."

Anger and embarrassment flushed Sara's face. "I'm not a kid." She barely resisted stomping her foot, which would have been childish.

He smirked at her again, as if he could sense what she'd almost done. "If you say so," he drawled.

Sara squared her shoulders, standing up straighter, and flipped her hair back over one shoulder. "I'll have you know that I just turned eighteen, which means I'm an adult."

The man chuckled and the sound sent a pleasurable thrill down Sara's spine. "Well, if you're eighteen…"

"Don't make fun of me," Sara fumed and started walking down the sidewalk. 

He caught up with her easily. "I wasn't making fun of you," he said, sincerely.

"What do you want?" Sara asked, stopping again to glare up at him. "My dad's a cop and he's going to start worrying when I don't show up soon, and he's here with a whole bunch of other cops who actually know this city. So whatever you're thinking, just, go find someone else to bother."

That made the man look uneasy. "Look, I was just going to offer to walk you back to wherever you're staying, but if you're happier being lost, then I'll get out of your hair."

"You'd just walk me back to my hotel out of the goodness of your heart?" Sara asked, crossing her arms over chest. 

"A man can't be a good Samaritan at Christmas?" he retorted. 

"Christmas was a few days ago," Sara pointed out. 

He shrugged. "Tis the season and all that. You want an escort or not?"

Sara bit her lip and knew that if he was going to hurt her, he could have done it already. And she really had no idea how to get back to the hotel on her own.

Finally she answered, "Yes, please. I'm staying at the Holiday Inn downtown."

He nodded. "We're actually not that far from it," he said and started walking. "By the way, I'm Leonard."

"Sara. Thank you, Leonard," she said.

They walked in silence for a few minutes before Leonard asked, "So, what brought you to Central City? Visiting family for the holiday?"

"It's partly my birthday present," Sara admitted. 

"Only partly?"

"My dad had a conference, symposium, thing here. My birthday was a few days ago so he thought it would be fun to bring me with him," she said. "He meant well."

"Not the party in the city you were hoping for?" he asked, sympathetically. 

"While he's off doing cop stuff, I've been stuck with his friend's kids. They're nice and all, but not the kind of people I'd choose to spend my time with."

"How so?"

"They're such...geeks," Sara said. "Goody-two shoes like my big sister. Do you know what they wanted to do today?"

"I'm on the edge of my seat," he drawled.

"They took me ice skating in a freaking park. In December!"

"Not a fan of the cold?"

"Not at all," Sara said, stuffing her hands in her coat pockets.

"I don't mind it so much," Leonard admitted. "So you gave them the slip while they were skating?"

"Yep," she acknowledged. 

"And how is your rebellion going so far?" 

He was making fun of her again, but she let it slide. "Kinda sucks," she admitted. "It's just… It's my eighteenth birthday, ya know? I wanted something new and adventurous. Not getting lost and my phone dying."

"You don't think getting lost is an adventure?" he challenged. "Just look at the interesting people you meet when you're lost."

"Because you're so interesting?" Sara retorted. "I don't know a thing about you aside from the fact that you don't mind the cold." 

"You noticed that, did you?" He smirked.

"So what were you doing out tonight all by yourself?" Sara asked. 

"Window shopping," he quickly replied.

"For jewelry?" She raised an eyebrow in question. "Were you looking at engagement rings? Are you going to propose on New Year's Eve?"

"What are you, twelve?" he balked. 

Sara took a moment to enjoy his uneasiness. "It was a logical guess. So no imminent fiancée. Got a girlfriend?"

"No," he answered.

"Boyfriend?" Sara asked, grinning.

"No. You?"

"Neither at the moment," Sara said, still grinning.

"That is a shame," Leonard said. "You should have someone to kiss you on your eighteenth birthday."

Sara laughed. "Since when?"

"A pretty girl should always be kissed on her birthday," Leonard amended.

"Everyone should be kissed on their birthday," Sara corrected. "Even if they're not so pretty."

"Touché," Leonard acknowledged, dipping his chin.

They turned a corner and the hotel was across the street. 

"Hey," Sara exclaimed upon seeing it. "Guess I wasn't that far from it, after all."

"As I'd said," Leonard reminded her. 

"Yeah, I know." She stopped walking to look up at him. "Thanks for walking me back. It was really nice of you."

"Wouldn't want that getting around." Leonard grimaced. "I've got a reputation, you know."

Sara nodded soberly, even as her eyes danced with merriment. "Oh, I'm sure."

"Now who's mocking," Leonard chided her. "And you're welcome."

He turned to go, but Sara called after him, "Leonard?"

"Yes, Sara?"

"Would you want to do this again tomorrow? I'm sure I can ditch my escort again."

"I don't think that would be a good idea," Leonard hedged.

Sara frowned but didn't argue. "In that case…" 

She closed the distance between them, grabbed the front of his coat and pulled him down into a quick kiss.

"Thank you for my birthday kiss," she said with a wink before skipping to the hotel doors and disappearing inside.

Her dad was pacing in the lobby near the registration desk when she entered. He rushed over to engulf her in a bone-crushing hug when he saw her. "Sara, baby, I was so worried."

"I'm fine, Dad," Sara said, squirming out of the hug. 

"When Iris and Barry showed up and admitted that they'd lost you… I've been out of my mind," Quentin scolded.

"I didn't mean for you to worry," Sara said. "But I wanted to explore the city by myself. I just got a little lost and then my phone died."

"How did you get back?" Quentin asked.

"I ran into this guy who walked me back," Sara hesitantly admitted. "He was a total gentleman, I swear. I'm safe, see?"

Quentin frowned, but didn't lecture her. "We are going upstairs right now and you are plugging that phone in," he said, steering her towards the elevators. "Did you eat dinner on your grand adventure?"

"No, I'm starving," Sara admitted. 

"Alright. Go grab a shower to warm up and we'll get a bite to eat."

"Thanks, Dad," Sara said, giving him a hug.

The elevator arrived at their floor and they headed to their adjoining rooms. Sara plugged her phone in and went to shower.

When she emerged from the bathroom, clean and warm, she noticed a note under her door. 

Curious, she picked it up and read: _I've always loved a bad idea. Meet me in the lobby at 11am and I'll show you_ my _city. - L_

Sara was pretty sure she didn't stop grinning for the rest of the night.

The End

**Author's Note:**

> Read the sequel [Walking on Sunshine](http://archiveofourown.org/works/7072078).


End file.
